Greg Davies: Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog

Greg Davies walks on stage and immediately apologises for wearing an ill-fitting shirt that exposes his protruding stomach. At 40, the man currently playing Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners is feeling old. To remedy this world-weariness he has come up with a wonderfully simple concept: to present his whole life through a series of epiphanic moments – moments "free of consequence and devoid of meaning" in which he was able to lose himself completely, or perhaps more pertinently, laugh his arse off.

He strings together these autobiographical snippets, or 'gems' as he modestly calls them, with a great deal of energy and skill, never forgetting to engage with his audience as he flies through the set. His attention to detail is impressive as he hands a red Book of Pithy Tales to a member of the audience so they can read out titles of chapters and writes down more relevant information on a blackboard – a fitting move considering that a large chunk of this is dedicated to his time as a drama teacher.

There are some genuinely funny, candid moments here captured with warmth that many people will be able to relate to: unfortunate school nicknames, embarrassing family get-togethers, and power-hungry headmasters among them. There are also a lot of jokes about animal molestation, which are hopefully less relatable.

Passionate, sincere and accessible, this is an uplifting show with a huge heart.